Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Ministry Finds an Inventory Donation in Its Neighborhood

One of our partner ministries contacted me last week with an opportunity to liquidate some surplus inventory. They were given four pickup loads (three pallets) of inventory from a lamp store. The donation came about because the ministry development director noticed that the store was going out of business so he took the initiative to ask the manager if they would donate the remaining inventory. This would save them the final liquidations. Amazingly, the manager said yes and they arranged to have the merchandise picked up and stored at the charity's headquarters.
The moral of the story is "Ask" and you may be surprised that the company may say yes. We are currently making arrangements with a liquidator to sell these lamps, and there should be a very nice donation for the charity. As a ministry representative or a person who has a burden for a specific charity, look for companies that are moving their locations, consolidating their warehouses or headquarters or closing stores. There are opportunities to get multiple floors of office furniture, surplus inventory or surplus equipment.
The key: Pray that you will be in the right place at the right time and you speak to the right person who can make the decision to donate inventory or equipment.

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